A source close to the investigation said “two or three men” were likely involved, probably of Caucasian descent. One of them is believed to have murdered Brian Patrick O’Reilly, 50, at his 12th-floor MBf Tower apartment on Saturday.
Investigators believe O’Reilly was involved in a money scam which may have seen the perpetrator’s sister conned.
This is based on the note found at the scene of the crime, which read: “I respect the police and still do but justice sometimes has to be gained. I hate you mafia killing scammers. I love my girl and she is (unintelligible text).”
The note appeared to be written on a page torn from the book “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F***”.
The source said the plan was hatched after O’Reilly moved to Penang on Feb 4, to take up a job as an IT manager at a Singaporean firm.
It said “two to three” Caucasian men had befriended him at his favourite bar in town before proceeding to kill him after an unspecified period of time.
According to the source, investigators believe one of them killed O’Reilly while the other two were probably accomplices.
They say the murder suspect acted alone on March 2, when he was spotted on CCTV footage at the lobby of O’Reilly’s apartment.
The man, who was seen carrying a duffel bag, asked a woman for directions to town. He then asked her to drop him off there so he could “get on a van to Thailand”.
The source said the woman agreed, and dropped the man off as requested. It said he, with two other men, had likely entered Thailand through a border crossing up north, about two hours’ drive from here.
The woman, a 37-year-old insurance agent, was one of two people detained by the police yesterday. The other is a 43-year-old man who sells beer and liquor door-to-door.
According to investigators, the detained man knew O’Reilly well as he had supplied him with drinks before. The man told the police that he saw O’Reilly with two other “white men” at a bar last Thursday, and had given the three of them a ride home.
The man met O’Reilly again at 6.23am the next day to deliver more drinks to him. That was the last time they met.
“O’Reilly ordered 20 cans of beer from him. He paid the beer seller about RM100 and parted ways,” the source said.
Later that day, a real estate agent came to meet O’Reilly to collect his office keys for an air-conditioning maintenance job. He had tried to contact O’Reilly on the phone, but failed.
He told the police that a Caucasian man had come out and informed him that O’Reilly was “unwell” and that “all appointments have been cancelled”.
The agent tried calling O’Reilly on Monday but to no avail. Suspecting something amiss, he then opened the apartment door with the help of a locksmith.
Investigators who were first on the scene said O’Reilly’s body was “rapidly decomposing”. The coroner later ruled that he had been killed 24 hours before March 3, 10pm.
O’Reilly suffered blunt force trauma to the head, with a large cut on his neck and a stab wound in his lower abdomen.
Penang police chief T Naranasegaran said investigators were working with Interpol to locate the suspects in the case.